Sliding door construction



July 27, 1954 R W TADD 2,684,506

SLIDING DOOR CONSTRUCTION Filed De. s, 195o l (Ill-1111111 4Z :inventor ROY W. TA DD Gttorneg Patented July 27, 1954 UNITED STATE 1 Claim.

l This invention relates `to' the construction of sliding doors and is more particularly directed to sliding doors enclosing a shower.

In present shower-enclosing sliding door struc- Atures, it has been found that there is shower spray leakage between the outer ends of the doors and the walls against which these door ends are intended to abut. Since the doors are conventionally of the type that are suspended by means of rollers from an overhead track, they are quite free and it is diicult to so hang them as to achieve non-leaking engagement with said walls. This condition is aggravated by the unlikelihood of said walls being straight, true and parallel. Hence, even when the doors are manually slid into rm abutment with the walls, a-space results from misalignment, from a bow or bulge in either thewalls or the door edges, or because the doors slip back on the track. Merely providing compressible sealing strips along said door edges would not solve this problem, since the elasticity of such strips would cause retraction or springback of the freely suspended easy-rolling doors and leakage spaces would result.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide novel and improved means to hold Ythe sliding doors of a shower enclosure closed .against the elasticity of sealing strips along the wall-abutting ends of the doors to thereby propierly seal against shower spray. i

Another object of the invention is to provide fsealing strips for the outer ends of shower-enclosing doors that readily conform to unevenness or misalignment of the walls or jambs abutted by said door ends, the strips being so formed that considerable spring-back of the doors may occur and yet eifective water sealing is obtained.

It is advantageous that constructions of this type be easily and quickly installed, that the doors be interchangeable, and that the components of the doors be of stock size.

It is another object of the invention, therefore, to provide a sliding door structure that is so constructed that the same can be assembled and disassembled as a unit, in which the doors can be interchanged outside to inside according to the position of the shower head or heads, and in which the width dimension of the completed structure is not critical because of the inclusion of iiap type sealing strips that have a wide range of sealing positions.

Another object of the invention is to provide guide means for the lower ends of the freely suspended slidingdoors, the same contemplating both non-frictional guiding of the doors and eiective leakage sealing along the top edge of the wall of the tub above which the present structure is mounted.

The invention also has for its objects to provide such means that are positive in operation, convenientin use, easily installed in a working position and easily disconnected therefrom,l economical of manufacture, relatively simple, and of general superiority and serviceability.

The invention also comprises novel details of construction and novel combinations'andan rangements of parts, which will more fully appear in the course of thefollowing description. However, the drawings merely show and the following description merely" describes one embodiment-of the present invention, which is given by way of illustration or example only.

In the drawings, like reference characters designate similar parts in the several views.

Fig. l is an elevational View, as'seen from th inside or tub side, of a sliding door structure according to the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary and enlarged plan view of one end of said structure.

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on line 3 3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. l is a further enlarged fragmentary lplan view of sealing rmeans employed in the invention.

Fig. 5 is a similarly enlarged cross-sectional view taken on line .fa-e of Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary side view of a lower corner of one of the doors of the structure.

The present door'structure is `framed by side walls or jambs i8 and is disposed above andupon the top of a tub I I. Said jambs and tub are generally conventional.

The present structure comprises, generally, upper support track means I2, supported by and spanning between walls It, two doors I3 and I4 suspended from the means I2, lower door-guiding means l5 disposed on tub wall Il, water-sealing means It carried by each door along the outer edge thereof for sealing engagement with Walls I0, and friction door-holding means I'I, carried by the track means, and engageable 'with the doors to retain the latter against spring-back movement when the doors are moved to closed position, as shown in Fig. 1.

The support track means I2 comprises a track beam It and a pair of brackets I9 that removably support the beam and are affixed to walls i0. Front and back flanges 2@ on each bracket dene a socket receptive of theends of said beam, and lugs 2i on each bracketv engage the upper wall 220i said beam to support the same. lt will be clear, therefore, that the beam I8 is not fixed inr place but ratheris supported by the brackets i9 and can be removed by upwardly lifting the same from engagement with the brackets. Centrally of the side walls 23 of the beam there is provided an intermediate and parallel wall 24, said three latter walls being provided with tracks 25 to form two longitudinal side-,by-side trackways, one for each of the doors I3 and I4. Beam walls 23 are deeper than wall 24 so that' they overhang the upper portions of the doors,

` as best seen in Fig. 3.

Each door I3 and ifi comprises a frame 27, a suitable transparent or translucent panel 28 set in said frame, and sealing-gaskets 29 that seal around said panels. Typical of sliding doors, the Width of the present doors is such that, when in closed position, there is an overlap of the inner or adjacent ends of the doors. The bottom of each door, on the sides adjacent each other, is provided with a downwardly-reaching flange Sil that comprises a leg of an angle member secured to the bottom edge of each said door. In a conventional manner, the doors are provided on both sides with handles Si, and one door, preferably the outer door Erl, on the tub side thereof, is provided with a bumper 32 to prevent each door from encountering the handles of the other.

The lower door-guiding means l comprises a track rail 33 that is provided with parallel tracks 34 that are vertically aligned with trackvvays 2t in beam I8, said tracks being receptive of nanges 30, as shown in Fig. 5. Side walls 35 and an intermediate wall 3S are formed to have laterally directed lips that define tracks 35i. Flanges 30 and track rail are conventionally made of metal. ln order to obviate a metal-to-metal engagement of these parts, the flanges, at two spaced points, are provided with non-metallic blocks or pads Si? that have a thickness slightly smaller than the width of tracks Said blocks are advantageously made of a phenolic resin-impregnated fabric or" the type called micarta The doors are, thereby, guided against undue sway on their suspension means and, also, the plating usually applied to track rails 33 is not scratched by the doors because of blocks til. Said blocks are made in l-l-forrn, the webs of which nt into notches formed by ilanges The underside of track rail 33 is formed to have a longitudinal seat or recess it and Within said recess there is positioned a strip of sealing rubber il that is cemented only at l2 on the outer side of the rail, the inwardly directed portion being free to rest upon the top edge of the tub Wall ll to intercept moisture from within the enclosure. Thus, the track rail may rest directly on said tub Wall and the sealing nap is completely hidden from view.

The sealing means i5 on each door i3 and i4 comprises a generally U-shaped strip of rubbe ft2, one leg it of which is clamped to the door edge by a metal strip of molding and the other leg lili of which is somewhat longer and constitutes a resilient i'lap that has iiat engagement with Wall lii'to seal thereagainst. Flap d5 seeks an angular position but, when pressed against Wall lll, nat-tens thereagainst to effect moisture sealing by accommodating itself to any unevenness there may be in said wall. 1t is preferred to apply strips i2 so that the edges oi flaps 'l are directed toward the tub side of the structure.

t will be clear that this sealing means or any sealing means that has yieldability or compressibility will cause retraction or spring-back of the doors that would nullify the seal; the means il' is provided to constitute a friction lock that counteracts such retraction or spring-back.

The means il is here shown as a length of spring wire l5 that has a rounded leading end l? and is located slightly below the under face of top wall of track beam l in that trackway 25 in which the door to be held moves. A bracket i3 (one of two such brackets), fastened to the top edge of the door and mounting the rollers i9 that ride tracks 25, has a top face 5t that encounters Wire 16, and frictionally engages the same, as illustrated in Fig. 3.

Latch Wire can only resiliently move in a vertical plane, being guided in a groove 5l formed in top Wall 22 of the track beam. An eye 52 formed on said wire for a bolt 53 that passes through slot 5i, is adjustably held to position the free end of the wire where desired to effect friction-locking engagement with the bracket face 5t. Since, normally, Wire (it is slightly angularly directed, the same is upwardly flexed in locking position. The tightness of the lock can be adjusted by sliding means il along the groove 5l.

One such lock is provided for each door. Since greater flexibility of installation is afforded thereby, both ends of Wall 22, above each trackvvay, are provided with slots 5l. In this manner, depending on which side the shower head is disposed and to obvia-te leakage Where the doors overlap, said doors can be transposed, inside for outside, and there is available a slot 5l for lock means il.

While the invention that has been illustrated and described is now regarded as the preferred embodiment, the construction is, of course, subject to modifications Without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. lt is therefore not desired to restrict the invention to the particular form of construction illustrated and described, but to cover all modications that may fall Within the scope of the appended claim.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

In a sliding door construction having an upper track beam and two sliding overlapping doors suspended from said beam and each door movable to close an opening between opposite abutment Walls, there being a compressible resilient sealing strip between each said Wall and the door abutting thereagainst, the improvement that comprises two resilient eleinents secured to said beam, one adjacent each end thereof and each element aligned with each respective door, each door being provided with a member above the tcp thereof and extending upwardly into interfering relation with the respective resilient element to irictionally engage said element to hold door against retractive movement induced by the i'orce of eX- pansion in the sealing strip when compressed between the door and the wall abutted thereby, said track beam at each end being formed with an elongated slot, each resilient element comprising a length of spring wire disposed Within and, in below each respective slot, and an adjustable fastening connecting one end of each said wire to the track beam.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNTED STATES PATENTS 

